Beer in the new era

I like sours a lot. Had an amazing sourish Berliner Style Weisse, Brettanomyces Lambicus Special Edition. So light and refreshing and only 3%. Not crazy sour, but just sour enough to compliment the style.

Sours are the new thing, right? Looked at one way, it's a route the avant-gardists have found out of insane hopping but retaining the snese of the extreme?

At the De Molen beer festival the other week, all but one of the Mikkeller beers on offer were sours, and they were much in evidence elsewhere.

i feel like it's sort of a good and bad thing that Lagunitas is pretty much the default crafty beer all over the west coast.

Suddenly noticed my strong predilection for hoppy ales (maybe due to changing lunchtime pubs from a fullers pub with the bog standard fullers selections to one with ten different cask beers available every day). Harviestoun Wild Hop IPA going down a treat.

Where's the ten-cask place nr yr work, Tom?

Doggett's. Always wrote it off as a very large (ie not cosy) and uninspiring joint but the ale selection (and they seem to be well kept) has definitely improved its prospects.

That's interesting - it's a Nicholson's house (or was last time I looked) and I haven't come across one of those having anything other than a very pedestrian (though usually well-kept) selection.

Still is Nicholson's, I don't know if it's an improvement across the chain or peculiar to this one place.

Re: Lagunitas, they're pretty one- note IMO, all their hoppy beers taste the same, and their lineup skews towards the hops. That said, for the price, you usually get good stuff. Little Sumpin' Wild is pretty awesome. And you can't beat 5 bucks for a bomber of Hop Stoopid. However, I drank a good portion of a 6er of Maximus one time right before a bout of wretched food poisoning.

Hop Trip is awesome! Chasin' Freshies is another Deschutes wet hop, don't expect an IPA and you'll like it.

My Jamil's Evil Twin kit is taking forever to carbonate, moved it upstairs where it's warmer, hope the hop taste doesn't fade in the meantime. Brewed up a new batch of my Witbier, experimented with a partial mash, added 1lb of flaked oats and 1 lb pilsener malt. We'll see how this one goes.

(the point being that I can never touch Maximus again due to Pavlovian association with violent, repeated vomiting)

can't wait to try this
http://hensley.com/media/124373/Narwhal%20Header_613x350.jpg

ok - so here's what i got today. any thoughts on any of these? (the last 6 my wife picked out and are the fruitier/sweeter stuff):

I don't drink a lot of stouts, but the Left Hand and the Founders are both quite good. I like Dogfish Raison d'Etre -- complex and strong -- but it's not much of a session beer. The Lagunitas ones are solid. (Daytime is their low-ABV IPA -- a style I predict we'll be seeing more of. Founders has one, too.) The only other one I've had is the Hefeweizen UFO -- didn't think much of it, but then I haven't really liked any of Harpoon's beers.

i didn't realize they had lagunitas in mn!

IIRC, they're fairly widespread, and are bound to be even more so, since they're currently building a brewery in Chicago to help w/distribution.

Taste test of the "White House Honey Ale", Obama's home brew:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/dining/reviews/a-white-house-beer-we-can-believe-in.html?hpw

ha its really how quickly the yay of news that the white house was brewing shifted to noooooo when i heard that they were doing a honey ale.

that nyt article is pretty gushy for what looks like a straight-up brown ale made with malt extract and honey.

well its the nyt what do you expect. i think its basically being complimentary towards homebrewing as a concept more than anything

Drank last night:

Lucid Foto, decent IPA, nothing remarkable.

Clown Shoes Brewing Eagle Claw Fist (I know, the names!) This is an odd one, billed as imperial amber ale on the menu; ratebeer calls it a strong ale. Dark reddish, with malt and whiskey notes, still extremely hoppy at 100 IBU.

Did not try New Belgium Peach Porch Lounger but wanted to, despite my aversion to fruit beer and G. Love, whom the name apparently references, because holy hell: peaches, hominy grits, molasses and lemon peel, all funked up with pale and biscuit malts in a saison for sipping. In three-part harmony enters a healthy dose of Brettanomyces to bring tropical, citrus flavors and bold, sweet nose.

had the new belgium porch lounger a few weeks back on the night of a thousand sours and it was pretty unremarkable unfortunately

New Belgium had an ancho chile ale there (Happy Gnome) too; maybe they're getting a little overambitious.

tried this one for the first time this weekend, was kind of amazing
http://www.boulevard.com/BoulevardBeers/the-sixth-glass/

I like the Peach Porch Lounger, but it def sounds more amazing than it actually is.

Has anyone had the Ska cocoa mole stout? Almost bought a sixer the other day but wasn't sure.

Drank last night:

Lucid Foto, decent IPA, nothing remarkable.

Clown Shoes Brewing Eagle Claw Fist (I know, the names!) This is an odd one, billed as imperial amber ale on the menu; ratebeer calls it a strong ale. Dark reddish, with malt and whiskey notes, still extremely hoppy at 100 IBU.

Did not try New Belgium Peach Porch Lounger but wanted to, despite my aversion to fruit beer and G. Love, whom the name apparently references, because holy hell: peaches, hominy grits, molasses and lemon peel, all funked up with pale and biscuit malts in a saison for sipping. In three-part harmony enters a healthy dose of Brettanomyces to bring tropical, citrus flavors and bold, sweet nose.

― Sex Kitten mind control slave (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, October 17, 2012 11:16 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Was this at Muddy Waters? I haven't seen Clown Shoes anywhere else on tap. Although they were listed on Muddy Water's taplist last week even though they hadn't tapped the keg yet. Also Lucid is some nasty shit. the only beer I've had with lemon was Stone's 16th anniversary and it was godawful/nasty shit.

I was at Happy Gnome last night. There was allegedly gonna be a Deschutes rep there with cask Hop Trip and Chasing Freshies. Turns out the bar knew nothing about it.

I didn't hate the Lucid, just kinda okayish. I did have some Tonka IPA the other night I thought was pretty gross.

Has anyone had the Ska cocoa mole stout?

I guess that's the official name of the New Belgium "ancho" ale I spoke of a bit ago. Last night was the first I've heard of it, but I passed.

i've been drink a lot of big stouts lately but i feel a strong belgian ale binge coming on

I haven't bought a six pack of anything in forever. Maybe some All Day IPA several months ago. Four pack is the most I go these days.

bought a 6 pack of the founders red rye pa last night to drink during the debates and it was pretty good, but i think the face punch of the hop trip has temporarily broken my tongue wrt ibus

so i live in l.a. and a recent article pegged it as a top 5 beer city, citing a couple of breweries and some gastropubs, but idk, the scene here is a little thin. golden road is the new shit but it's not very good. eagle rock brewing is ok. basically the reigning king is bruery and no one else comes close. the hot brewpubs these days are all pretty mediocre. this list didn't even mention portland or san diego or chicago or nyc, so i think it was a little off in general.

anyway! had some excellent beer from the bruery, a growler of rugbrod. great!

I'm going to this a week on Saturday:
http://www.kwvr.co.uk/events/151-featured/126-beer-a-music-festival-2012.html
Real ale! Steam trains! Real ale on steam trains!

so i live in l.a. and a recent article pegged it as a top 5 beer city, citing a couple of breweries and some gastropubs, but idk, the scene here is a little thin.

you've gotta go out to orange county imo - bruery provisions in orange is a great beer store (and often the only place to get some of their rarities), but there's a store in corona, el cerrito liquor, that i'll personally stan for as the best bottle shop i've ever been to on either coast.

regardless there's some amazing stuff in/near LA that doesn't make it very far at all - look for stuff from craftsman brewing (which doesn't bottle, but should be available at father's office and the like), alpine brewing, kern river...

I usually don't get excited about lagers, but the Craftsman 1903 is really good. And I like Golden Road, less enthusiastic about Eagle Rock brewery.

I guess that's the official name of the New Belgium "ancho" ale I spoke of a bit ago.

Oops, I must've been conflating these two:
http://greatbrewers.com/sites/default/files/images/Product%20-%20New%20Belgium%20Cocoa%20Mole.preview.jpghttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UgTeOSdevuo/UD7RSHSuoFI/AAAAAAAAJjY/owx7AQNTFcY/s1600/ska-mole-stout.jpg

Was interested in the Ska one.

I like GRs hefe but everything else I've had has been a bit avg. bruery provisions is dope as fuck. Friend of mine has worked the bar there for some time now.

I really like GR's brown ale (dumb name notwithstanding - Get Up Offa That Brown). And the Point the Way IPA would not be my usual IPA, but sometimes it's what I want.

I've had a couple Bruerys in the bottle, but don't remember how much I liked them.

Just discovered that banana bread beer has arrived in the local supermarket. Drinking a bottle as I write.
It's in a 5 for €10 offer with various European beers etc and the LOndon Pride they were supposedly having in an offer about this time last year but was never on the shelves.
Hope its permanent addition would love to have this available whenever I fancy it.

got a 6 of Founders Centennial IPA and not crazy about it, got a 6 of lagunitas brown suggah and other than the brain-crushing ABV, i have nothing good to say about it. WAY too sweet.

centennial is my least favorite offering from Founders iirc

much prefer their dry hopped regular PA to their IPA

yeah i went with the IPA because its supposed to have higher IBU, but man, theres just something sorta off about the bitterness. hard to put my finger on it. preferred the red rye PA or whatever by leaps and bounds.

Picked up bruery mischief/saison rue/tart of darkness today. Psyched to try them.

I buy a lot of my beer during my lunch break. Always feels weird to roll back into the office carrying three bombers and a six pack.

And heavy.

Tried Estaminet Pilsner yesterday. Not bad. It's a smooth pilsner with a crisp hoppy bite - similar to Pilsner Urquell. Wouldn't have guessed it was Belgian.

I can't believe I live that close to New England and won't get to taste any because Quebec is being Quebec. Not that beer is bad here, it's actually good, but i'm getting tired of the same 10-15 breweries.

man i know it is plebian boring whatever, but every year when the sierra nevada celebration comes out, my heart skips a beat. love this beer.

i think our next brewing project is going to be a trad apfelwine.

The 5 for €10 deal on exotic beers is coming to an end without me having tried half of them.
Sio I just picked up 5 this afternoon
Banana Bread Beer
Chocolate Stout
Erdinger Hefe
Erdinger Dunkel
London Pride
so for some reason I bought several I tried most of before, maybe should have headed out to the bigger shop nearer to home instead of settling on 5 from the market in town.

Not sure if I've had Erdinger Dunkel.

Well they're keeping the brands they didn't stock before in some of the stores at least, think this was mainly introductory.

May grab another 5 tomorrow.

Used to <3 Erdinger Dunkel back in the day when I was all about wheat beers.

(xpost) No shame in your Celebration celebration. I love it too, my go to beer this time of year.